Day 21 - Fish In Cycle

[awilson360]

I'm a little bit confused at the moment!

Yesterday I tested my water and it was;
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrite - 0.5ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm

These are the general stats after I have conducted a 40% water change each morning.
I was about 10 days into the Nitrite spike and I tested my water today and got this;

Ammonia - 0 to 0.25 ppm ??? Its not 100% pure yellow but isn't really 0.25 either!
Nitrite - 0 to 0.25 ppm ??? This is the weird one! Its not 0 and not a 0.25! Its kind of sky blue colour but definately not purple!
Just wondering if my Nitrite is through the roof?
Nitrate is 10 to 20 ppm!

I say this because yesterday I rinsed my filter media in aquarium water and a lot of dirt came out.
I either killed loads of bacteria or cleaned debris which was leaching Ammonia into the water!

21 days seems too fast to cycle?

What's going on!!!

Its a 25g with 2 fancies and they are both acting good!

Tube on the left is from a well established tank reading 0ppm of nitrite!
What is the one on the right reading?




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AW

 

[drobbyb]

Usually when you see surprising results like that, make sure you test again. That's a great way to verify your results. If you come up with different results, you may have added too much water or miscounted the drops (The amount of liquid in the tube on the left looks a little high and the one on the right looks a little low.) Nobody's perfect

 

[awilson360]

Usually when you see surprising results like that, make sure you test again. That's a great way to verify your results. If you come up with different results, you may have added too much water or miscounted the drops (The amount of liquid in the tube on the left looks a little high and the one on the right looks a little low.) Nobody's perfect

Hello, thanks for the reply! I re-tested this morning, all water levels in the tube accurate.
I expected to see Ammonia through the roof because of interfering with my filter but instead it was about 0 and nitrite was still half way between 0 and 0.25 I think?? Nitrates had also increased! I just need to know whether the tank is cycled or whether or not to keep doing water changes!

AW


Update: ok so after a 35% water change and removal of a few dead leaves I retested and the ammonia and nitrite is reading 0ppm!

That's the best stats the water has ever had since adding fish 22 days ago!

 

[OldMan47]

Keep testing each day for a while but it sounds like you are getting close. If you used some of the media from your mature tank, that could easily explain such a short time to cycle. Done right, a clone can get a new filter ready for fish in about a week.

 

[awilson360]

Keep testing each day for a while but it sounds like you are getting close. If you used some of the media from your mature tank, that could easily explain such a short time to cycle. Done right, a clone can get a new filter ready for fish in about a week.

Hello OM,

I didn't do a filter media as such, when setting up the tank I used some plants and gravel from a mature tank with a UG filter.
I'm using 2 internals so it wasn't a direct media clone.
I tested last night and nitrite was 0 and nitrate was about 10.
My ammonia was about 0 but I think one of my ammonia test bottles is a bit faulty. The cap seems to always be drenched in solution. "Bottle #1".
So I did an ammonia test on a mature tank and then on mine and the ammonia colouration was exactly the same, close to. 0 ppm but no quite.


Thanks.

 

[BethK]

I wouldn't test water within 8hrs of doing a water change of any level, it will play with your results

 

[OldMan47]

The filter media in a tank with a UGF is the gravel. You did seed the tank with some small amount of the right bacteria and it seems that it is working for you.